Two-month-old Maritu lives with her family in Ethiopia. She was born with no anal opening—a condition known as anorectal malformation. Due to this, she is unable to pass stool normally.
“Maritu presented with partial bowel obstruction at the age of one week,” our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF), explains. “A colostomy was performed urgently. Maritu has recovered both from the surgery and the obstructive symptoms but still has a colostomy and an imperforate anus. Now, she needs a definitive surgery for the correction of her anomaly.”
Maritu’s father works as a farmer to provide for his six children, but he does not earn enough money to pay for the surgery that Maritu needs.
For $1,500, Maritu will undergo an anorectoplasty to create a new anal opening so that she can pass stool normally. AMHF tells us that after surgery, “Maritu is expected to live a normal life.”
Maritu’s father hopes that one day his daughter will be well enough to go to school.